A conceptual framework for understanding the perspectives on the causes of the science–practice gap in ecology and conservation

作者：Diana Bertuol‐Garcia, Carla Morsello, Charbel Niño El-Hani, Renata Pardini · 发表于：Biological reviews/Biological reviews of the Cambridge Philosophical Society · 年份：2017 · DOI：10.1111/brv.12385 · 被引用次数：153 · 研究领域：Conservation, Ecology, Wildlife Education、Sustainability and Climate Change Governance、Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond

Applying scientific knowledge to confront societal challenges is a difficult task, an issue known as the science-practice gap. In Ecology and Conservation, scientific evidence has been seldom used directly to support decision-making, despite calls for an increasing role of ecological science in developing solutions for a sustainable future. To date, multiple causes of the science-practice gap and diverse approaches to link science and practice in Ecology and Conservation have been proposed. To foster a transparent debate and broaden our understanding of the difficulties of using scientific knowledge, we reviewed the perceived causes of the science-practice gap, aiming to: (i) identify the perspectives of ecologists and conservation scientists on this problem, (ii) evaluate the predominance of these perspectives over time and across journals, and (iii) assess them in light of disciplines studying the role of science in decision-making. We based our review on 1563 sentences describing causes of the science-practice gap extracted from 122 articles and on discussions with eight scientists on how to classify these sentences. The resulting process-based framework describes three distinct perspectives on the relevant processes, knowledge and actors in the science-practice interface. The most common perspective assumes only scientific knowledge should support practice, perceiving a one-way knowledge flow from science to practice and recognizing flaws in knowledge generation, communic...